Occupational Therapists' Perceived Confidence in the Management of Concussion: Implications for Occupational Therapy Education.
Christina Finn
PMID 30923483WHAT IT FOUND
60% of surveyed occupational therapists had concussion experience, but confidence varied.
Therapists without concussion experience reported lower confidence in all assessment and treatment areas. More continuing education was linked with higher confidence; years of experience and university concussion coverage were not.
Key findings
01Occupational therapists who did not see clients with concussion reported lower perceived confidence in all areas of treatment and assessment than those who did see clients with concussion.
02Participants who had taken the most continuing education courses reported the greatest levels of confidence, and participants with the fewest continuing education courses reported lower levels of perceived confidence.
03Only 24.4% of respondents reported that concussion was covered in their school's occupational therapy curriculum, and curriculum coverage was not significantly associated with perceived confidence.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The questionnaire was not validated, so responses depend on how each therapist interpreted the questions. There was no objective response rate, and invitations went through social media, professional forums, and continuing education partners, so therapists interested in concussion may have been overrepresented. The sample was relatively small and may not represent all practising occupational therapists. The paper did not explicitly define concussion for participants. The survey did not measure how deeply concussion was covered in university curricula. It reported perceived confidence, not actual clinical performance or patient outcomes.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the continuing education association as proof that extra training makes therapists better at concussion care. This survey measured perceived confidence, not patient outcomes, and the questionnaire was not validated.